A refrigerator is a device for low temperature storage of food and may be configured to provide freezing storage or cold storage of food according to the kind of food a user wants to store.
The inside of a refrigerator is cooled by a supply of cold air; this cold air is continuously generated by a heat exchange process with a refrigerant, based on a freezing cycle which goes through a process of compression-condensation-expansion-evaporation. The cold air supplied to the inside of the refrigerator is evenly transferred to the inside of the refrigerator by convection.
Generally, the main body of a refrigerator has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, the front surface of which opens, and the main body of the refrigerator may harbor a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment. Further, the front surface of the main body may be provided with a refrigerating compartment door and a freezing compartment door for selectively shielding an opening portion. A storage space in the refrigerator may be provided with multiple drawers, shelves or receiving boxes in which various foods may be stored in an optimal condition.
Top mount type refrigerators, in which a freezing compartment is positioned in the upper section and a refrigerating compartment is positioned in the lower section, are well-known. Recently, however, for user convenience, bottom freezer type refrigerators (in which the freezing compartment is positioned in the lower section) have been produced. In the case of the bottom freeze type refrigerator, the more frequently used refrigerating compartment is positioned in the upper section and a relatively less used freezing compartment is positioned at a lower position; thus, a user may conveniently use the refrigerating compartment. However, since the freezing compartment is located in the lower section, the bottom freezer type refrigerator has a disadvantage in that a user needs to bend down to open the freezing compartment door to take out ice.
To solve the above issue, a refrigerator has been produce in which a dispenser for taking out ice is installed in the refrigerating compartment door positioned in the upper part of the bottom freeze type refrigerator. In this case, the refrigerating compartment door, or the inside of the refrigerating compartment, may be provided with an ice machine which generates ice.
The ice machine may include an ice making system which includes an ice tray for generating ice, an ice bucket in which the generated ice is stored, and a transfer system transferring the ice stored in the ice bucket to the dispenser.
In detail, the ice that is made in the ice making system may fall into the ice bucket positioned in the lower section of the ice tray and may accumulate there. Further, the ice which is stored in the ice bucket may be transferred to a front discharge port by the transfer system.
The transfer system may further include an auger motor system. The auger motor system may be configured to include an auger motor generating torque, an auger portion, under torque to transfer ice forward, a flange coupled with the auger portion to transfer the torque of the auger motor to the auger portion, an ice crusher rotating together with the auger portion to crush ice, a solenoid valve selecting whether to crush ice using the ice crusher, and a cold air duct connector provided with a drain hose and including an ice compartment fan by which air inside the ice compartment may flow.
However, contemporary auger motor systems are often manufactured by a method consisting of individually manufacturing casings, installing the parts, and then assembling the casings.
For example, the auger motor system may be completed by manufacturing a solenoid valve casing portion in which the solenoid valve is installed, an auger motor casing portion in which the auger motor is installed, and a cold motor connector casing portion in which the cold duct connector is installed, respectively, as separate injection molding products, and then installing the solenoid valve, the auger motor, and the cold air duct connector therein, and assembling the casings.
As such, the existing auger motor system has a very complex structure and a large number of parts requiring assembly, leading to high manufacturing costs and excessive assembling time.